


be my love in the rain

by nightswatch



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: First Kiss, Fluff, Getting Together, Kissing in the Rain, M/M, Rain, umbrella sharing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-10
Updated: 2016-10-10
Packaged: 2018-08-21 17:48:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,748
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8254828
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nightswatch/pseuds/nightswatch
Summary: Five times it rained and five times Nursey and Dex got a little closer.





	

Nursey isn’t one for Monday mornings.

There’s something undeniably beautiful in the fog that hangs over Samwell, and there’s something about the red, yellow and orange of the leaves, something about the air, the cold not yet biting but a relief after the hot summer months.

But Nursey can’t really appreciate it, not when it’s Monday, not when they have an early morning practice scheduled, not when he stayed up late to catch up on the assignments that he somehow managed to forget about.

At least he’s not the only one who’s still a bit sluggish.

Bitty, as he’s changing into his practice gear very, very slowly, is talking about pumpkin pie, his voice quiet.

Next to him, Ransom says, “Remember when Holster lost a bet and had to put a pumpkin on his head?”

“Remember when Ransom and I were best friends?” Holster blinks at the ceiling and shakes his head. “You know, before he reminded me of the pumpkin thing?”

“Aw, Holtzy, don’t be mad, you were the most beautiful pumpkin I’d ever seen.”

Nursey yawns.

He is so taking a nap after his afternoon class. Actually, he probably won’t have time for that, because he has to meet some people about a group project and, yeah, he’s done too many of those to be hoping that anything about this one will be swift and easy.

Now it’s Chowders turn to yawn heartily. Nursey joins right in.

He glances around the locker room. Dex isn’t here yet. Tango is missing as well. They’re not late or anything, but Dex is usually here before Nursey. Or they run into each other at their dorm and walk over to Faber together.

They do that a lot, especially since they came back to Samwell after summer break. Nursey is starting to suspect that Dex actually waits for him sometimes. Often enough, Nursey finds him lingering outside the door, his phone in hand, and then Dex pretends that it’s some huge coincidence that they ran into each other.

Nursey doesn’t want to say that Dex is being obvious, because he’s not being _obvious_ , but he’s being _something_.

Anyway, Nursey doesn’t mind. If Poindexter wants to walk to Faber with him then he can walk to Faber with him. He feels like Dex is trying to be nicer than he was last year. His laptop is suspiciously void of stickers. Dex called him sometimes over the summer. Nursey sometimes called Dex. And those conversations were suspiciously void of actual fighting.

When Dex eventually comes trudging into the locker room, Nursey can’t help but stare.

Dex is completely drenched. He’s _dripping_.

“Dude,” Holster says, “did you fall into the Pond?”

“You’re supposed to shower _after_ practice, you know?” Ransom adds.

“It’s raining,” Dex says flatly.

He shrugs off his jacket, his dripping jacket, with his nose scrunched up, and Nursey finds himself entranced by the view. Little droplets of water flit down the back of Dex’s neck and get soaked up by the collar of his shirt. Dex’s sneakers are at least fifty percent water. So are his jeans. Dex peels them off, huffing angrily.

Nursey shouldn’t be looking. He still isn’t ready for practice, so maybe he should focus on getting dressed instead of glancing over at Dex as he’s getting undressed, but there’s something incredibly entertaining about Dex trying to get out of his wet jeans. And it’s not like anybody else is ready.

Chowder is sniggering at Dex. Dex chucks a wet sock at him in reply and Chowder ducks out of the way with a yelp. The sock stays on the floor in the middle of the room where everyone makes a show of stepping over or walking around it. Holster mumbles something about getting some warning tape.

Dex grins as he turns back to his hockey gear. Or, Nursey should say, he’s about to turn back to it when he catches Nursey staring.

“What?” Dex asks. He might as well have said, _Fucking fight me, Nurse_. Yeah, as nice as he’s being – or trying to be – on occasion, that’s still a thing. Anyway, the _being nice_ thing, it’s not so much about Dex actually being nice, but more about Dex being a little more mellow around Nursey than he was last year.

“You’ve got some water on your…” Nursey waves his hand at Dex. Another drop of water runs down the side of Dex’s face.

Nursey does not want to kiss that drop off Dex’s cheek. He _does not_.

“Fuck off,” Dex says.

“Should have brought an umbrella.”

“I couldn’t find my fucking umbrella,” Dex snaps. “Do you have any other super smart tips or are you done?”

“Dude,” Nursey says, “chill.”

Dex flips him off and grabs a towel.

*

“Scared that you’re gonna melt?”

Nursey sighs at Dex. Then he looks out at the rain. It’s coming down in sheets and there are several books in his backpack that he wants nowhere near that rain. So he’ll wait until it lets up enough that he doesn’t have to fear water damage.

Dex raises his eyebrows at him when he doesn’t reply.

“Books,” Nursey only says. He’s in a weird mood. Not sad, but he’s skirting the edges.

It’s Saturday – probably the last quiet one before the start of the season – and they all had lunch together and Ransom and Holster invited them to come over to the Haus to watch movies later, but Nursey doesn’t really feel like being around people, so he begged off. And then he stopped dead right outside the door. Which is where he still is, safe from the rain.

Dex pulls an umbrella out of his backpack. “Well…”

“Found your umbrella, huh?”

“Shut up, you probably don’t even have one.”

That statement is not entirely inaccurate. Nursey had one, once upon a time. He lost it during his freshman year and never found it again. He’s not sure why he hasn’t bought a new one yet.

“Thought so,” Dex says.

Two guys come out of the dining hall, one of them mutters _ew_ , and then they’re both running, water splashing as they dart off. Yeah, Nursey isn’t running. He’ll be soaked by the time he gets to his dorm and he doesn’t care all that much about himself, but the _books_.

Dex opens his umbrella in slow-motion, his eyes on Nursey.

Nursey knows where this is going. Dex is gonna walk him back if he asks nicely. And, really, Nursey is actually inclined to ask nicely, because it doesn’t look like the rain is gonna let up any time soon and he doesn’t want to be stuck under the roof out front the dining hall for another hour or so.

“So,” Nursey says, “where are you headed?”

“Founder’s,” Dex says.

“Ah,” Nursey replies. He’s gonna have to ask so, so nicely. “So…”

Dex tilts his head. “Yeah?”

“Do you think there’s enough room for two people under that umbrella? I mean, Founder’s isn’t that far away, right?”

“You’re headed to Founder’s too, huh?”

Dex is onto him. Nursey doesn’t like it. “Well, not exactly, but maybe I can run back to our dorm from there and not get completely drenched.”

“Or maybe I could just walk you there,” Dex says.

Nursey narrows his eyes at him. Now that just seems too easy. “Does that offer come with terms and conditions?”

Dex rolls his eyes. “I’m leaving and I don’t care if you’re coming.”

“Hey, okay…” Nursey ducks under the umbrella with Dex. “Thanks, I guess.”

They walk slowly. It’s windy and Nursey is definitely gonna end up with soaked shoes, but as long as he manages to keep his books out of the rain all is well. The umbrella quivers in Dex’s hand when a gust of wind sweeps across the quad. Leaves dance and get stuck to the wet sidewalk.

Nursey usually likes this kind of weather. He likes the dim light, the gloom. Dead leaves. He likes it better when he’s inside, though. He likes it when he can watch raindrops chase each other down his windowpane.

He bumps into Dex as he looks around.

“Watch it,” Dex says, takes the umbrella with his other hand and grabs Nursey by the arm. “If you slip on a wet leaf or some shit, I’m not helping you back up.”

“Rude,” Nursey says and jostles Dex.

Dex’s fingers are still curled into the sleeve of his jacket, his knuckles white. “I swear to God, Nurse…”

Nursey laughs. “You know,” he says, winking at Dex, “you really match the trees these days.” All those reds and oranges. Dex blends right in. It’s like fall is where he belongs. Not in the rain, though. When Nursey looks at Dex, he sees golden sunshine that makes all those colors even brighter.

“I’m about two seconds away from revoking your umbrella privileges.”

“Hey, take it as a compliment, bro. The trees look nice. All those colors, don’t you think they look pretty cool?”

“And I match the trees?”

“I mean…” Did he just say that Dex looks kinda nice? That’s so not where he was going with this. Well, Dex does look kinda nice, but Nursey would never actually say that. Like, Nursey doesn’t want to make Dex uncomfortable or anything. That would just make things weird.

Chances are that he made things weird already, though.

But Dex doesn’t look angry. He’s blushing.

Nursey blinks at him. He did that.

“Walk a little faster,” Dex mutters and gives him a shove, “otherwise it’s gonna take me two hours to get to the library.”

They don’t actually walk much faster; it doesn’t work with both of them under the umbrella. It’s not like they fit under it properly anyway. Nursey’s left arm, sticking out from under the umbrella, is uncomfortably wet and his jeans are starting to stick to his legs. “I do appreciate the sacrifice you’re making,” Nursey says. Despite of how ridiculous he made it sound, he really does appreciate it.

Dex is still gripping his jacket, keeping him close. Or keeping him under the umbrella. “You’d better.”

“I’ll make it up to you,” Nursey says.

Dex’s cheeks turn even redder. His mumbled, “Oh, shut up,” doesn’t have its usual bite.

There’s a chance that Nursey is reading this wrong. But, you know, there’s also a chance that he isn’t. Even just the thought does funny things to his heart.

*

“Nursey?”

He doesn’t have to look up to know that it’s Dex.

When Nursey got to the Haus, Dex was upstairs, fixing Chowder’s door handle, which apparently had an unfortunate encounter with an extremely drunk person during the last kegster. That extremely drunk person might have been Nursey. He can’t remember that well. 

Nursey was in the kitchen with Bitty when his phone started ringing and Nursey walked outside so fast that he tripped over the threshold.

He heard them all muttering inside the Haus, heard Chowder ask, “Where’s Nursey?” and heard Bitty say, “His mom called, I’m not sure what it was about, but he went outside to talk to her,” heard Chowder say, “I hope it’s not bad news,” and heard Dex say, “Someone should check on him.”

Nursey isn’t on the phone anymore. He’s just sitting here, on the bench by the front door, watching the empty street out front and the rain that’s slowly turning the asphalt dark. It was only drizzling when he came outside, but it’s definitely picking up.

“Bitty said your mom called,” Dex says.

“She did,” Nursey says. A year ago he might have said, _Why do you care?_

The thing is, Dex just cares. He cares about Bitty’s oven and the murderous dryer in the Haus’ basement that has, according to legends, eaten people, and he cares about his classes, about hockey, about the team, about his friends. And somehow Nursey ended up on that list. Maybe he can live without knowing when and why that happened.

But sometimes he wants to ask. _What changed?_

Honestly, if someone asked him at what point he started to see Dex differently, at what point he started to care so much about him, Nursey couldn’t tell. And now he wants Dex to be okay, and not just on the ice. He finds himself worrying when Dex looks sleep-deprived, when he yawns a little more than usual.

A year ago, he wouldn’t have cared what Dex did or said. Or at least he would have told himself that he didn’t care.

Dex sits down next to him. “Everything okay?”

Nursey glances at him. Dex isn’t wearing a jacket and it’s freezing out here. Nursey would know, he’s spent twenty minutes out here talking to his mom and then another, what, probably ten minutes staring at the rain. And he’s wearing a hoodie and a jacket, unlike Dex.

His fingers are cold.

“Yeah, everything’s fine,” Nursey says. He’s gonna brush this off. It was nothing. Everything _is_ fine.

Something passes over Dex’s face and it’s gone too quickly for Nursey to catch it. Dex nods and shifts like he’s about to get up.

“I mean…” Nursey says. Dex came out here to check on him. And that’s– Well, that’s really nice. He’s really trying and maybe Nursey should try a little harder, too.

He doesn’t want Dex to go. He wants to stay out here for a little while longer and watch the rain and breathe in the smell of those decaying leaves and the wet earth. He wants to listen to the steady sound of the falling rain. He wants Dex to sit next to him.

“Yeah?” Dex says. He leans closer, just a little, just enough that Nursey can feel his warmth, just enough to make him want to lean in. “Did something happen?”

“No, I mean, yes, but it’s not…” Nursey bites his lip to keep himself from saying, _It’s not a big deal_. He barely slept last night, barely paid attention in his classes today, so maybe it was a big deal. “Look, we have this neighbor, back in Manhattan. She’s really old, like, she’s nearly ninety and she fell down the stairs yesterday morning and–”

“Is she okay?”

“Oh, yeah. That’s why my mom called just now, actually. Looks like she’s gonna be fine. But, y’know, when they told me yesterday, they weren’t sure and… yeah. I’ve known her all my life, she’s like my grandma.”

“I didn’t know,” Dex says.

“Of course you didn’t know, it’s not like I made announcement or anything.”

“I said… yesterday, during breakfast–”

“You said it’s a fucking miracle that I’m shutting up for once, yeah, I remember.”

Nursey wasn’t his usual talkative self; he was too preoccupied thinking about his mom calling him early in the morning to tell him what happened, going over and over about their conversation, trying to get a grip. Lardo tried to talk to him, asked if he was okay, and Nursey only shrugged and said he was tired.

And Dex noticed that he was being strangely quiet. Of course he noticed. Nursey didn’t even have it in himself to tell Dex to mind his own business.

He knows that Dex didn’t mean anything by it, but Dex actually looks pained now. “I’m sorry,” he says.

“Hey, don’t worry about it, Poindexter, it’s what we do, right?”

“I’m sorry,” Dex says again.

Nursey looks out at the rain. It’s coming down in buckets now, but it’s still soothing. There’s a steadiness to it that Nursey appreciates. “It’s okay. She’s fine.”

A gust of wind smatters a few raindrops at their feet. Nursey doesn’t miss that Dex shivers. He shrugs off his jacket and drops it on Dex’s shoulders. Because he doesn’t want Dex to go back inside just yet.

“Anyway, so our neighbor, her name’s Sybilla,” Nursey says, trying very hard to ignore the look of unconcealed surprise on Dex’s face, “and she used to babysit me when I was a kid. She always read me really creepy stories and gave me this super expensive Swiss chocolate that I honestly didn’t appreciate enough when I was, like, five.”

Dex is giving him the _fucking rich people_ look now, but he’s also smiling a little. And he’s slipped his arms into the sleeves of Nursey’s jacket.

Nursey looks away. “She’s basically the only grand-parent I have left now and we’re not even related. I mean, my dad’s mom is still alive, but she has Alzheimer’s and she always thinks I’m my dad when we visit and–” And Nursey is totally oversharing right now. “Whatever. She’s fine.”

“Yeah,” Dex says. “That’s good.”

Nursey doesn’t really know what to do with the way Dex is looking at him right now. His eyes are so soft.

“If you’re ever in need of grandparents,” Dex goes on, “I have loads.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, my mom’s parents live right down the street from our place. I used to go to their house after school. And to watch hockey games when my sisters were hogging the TV.”

“Sounds nice,” Nursey says, careful to keep anything that could be mistaken for sarcasm out of his voice.

“It was,” Dex says. “I still do that. During summer break. I just hang out there and… you know, sometimes they need a shelf fixed or whatever, and my grandma makes those really nice cakes… I don’t know, I really like going to their place.”

Nursey hums. He risks a glance at Dex. He’s right next to him. Like, he’s definitely sitting much closer to Nursey than strictly necessary. There’s a lot of bench left next to Dex.

It’s starting to get dark around them. Bitty’s probably gonna call them inside for dinner soon. And then they’re gonna go back in and pretend that this quiet little moment never happened. They always do that. They’ve had their moments, a lot of them during the last few weeks, but those moments always vanish into nothing as soon as they make a wrong move.

And Nursey always tries so hard to remember that they can be like this. Quiet and still. In moments like this one, Nursey always wants to be closer to Dex. Even though Dex’s arm is pressed against his, Nursey is itching to reach out.

Well, fortune favors the brave, right?

Nursey lets his head drop Dex’s shoulder. He can hear Dex exhale softly, but Dex doesn’t move, doesn’t grumble at him, doesn’t tell him to get off.

“Tell me more about Maine,” Nursey says.

Dex doesn’t talk about his family that much. He sometimes mentions one of his sisters in passing, but Nursey couldn’t piece together a picture of Dex’s life before he came to Samwell with how little he knows.

So Dex tells him about the people who live in the street that he grew up in, he tells him about trips to the beach, about the lighthouse keeper, about their neighbors’ dog and about the time he fell into his grandpa’s pond. Dex tells him about his first pair of skates, about his mom’s _Star Trek_ obsession, about his favorite ice cream place.

Dex doesn’t ask him about New York and Nursey is glad that he doesn’t. They stare out at the rain for a few minutes.

A car passes by, the wet street shimmering in the beams of its headlights.

Nursey pulls the sleeves of his hoodie over his hands and nudges Dex. He likes the way Dex tells stories; he likes the way Dex’s voice sounds when he isn’t angry, when he’s just talking for the hell of it.

Dex’s fingers tap against the bench. “Do you want me to tell you about my cousins?”

Nursey nods. Dex can’t actually see him very well with Nursey’s head on his shoulder, but he can probably feel it.

He must have, because he launches into a story about his cousins. He has _fourteen_. They somehow go from Dex’s cousins to the hockey game his mom and dad took him to for his tenth birthday and then Dex’s voice drops to a whisper and he tells Nursey about the boy he kissed on the beach when he was sixteen.

When Dex falls silent, the heavy rain has once again become drizzle.

“Thank you,” Nursey says.

Dex leans his head against Nursey’s. “Sure,” he says.

*

“Are you heading over to the Haus later?” Nursey asks. He’s trying to sound casual. He’s not sure if he can when Dex just sat next to him in the library for half an hour, his homework done, waiting for Nursey to finish his as well so they could leave together.

Nursey hasn’t been at the Haus since last Wednesday, not since he sat out front with Dex and they talked. Well, Dex talked. Nursey thinks about it so much that he’s not sure if he even remembers it right at this point. Memories blur. People remember what they want to remember and they forget whatever is too inconvenient to think about.

But Dex was definitely leaning against him. Nursey didn’t make that up.

“Yeah, probably,” Dex says. He smiles a little. “Are you?”

“I guess,” Nursey says.

A raindrop lands on Dex’s face. Dex wipes it off with a huff. “I thought it wasn’t supposed to rain today.”

“Maybe it’s just–” Another one lands on Nursey’s nose. One on Dex’s forehead. One of Nursey’s cheek. “Okay, it’s not just a few drops.”

“Ugh…” Dex frowns at the clouds overhead and picks up the pace. So does the rain. “Nursey, your books…”

 _Shit_ , the books. “Where’s your umbrella?” Nursey asks.

“In my room,” Dex says.

It’s really, properly raining now.

“Come on,” Dex says and takes Nursey by the hand, tugging him along.

They run past people who haven’t left their umbrellas in their rooms, or who own umbrellas in general – unlike Nursey. Dex steers him around a puddle.

It’s been raining a lot during the past few days and Nursey has ducked under Dex’s umbrella on more than one occasion. Dex only told him to finally get his own once. Yesterday, when it was pouring all day, he actually picked up Nursey after class so they could walk home together.

It’s not that far from Founder’s to their dorm, but Nursey is still out of breath once they stumble under the roof over their building’s front door. Dex is panting as well, his cheeks red, his hair wet.

His fingers are still curled around Nursey’s.

“Are the books okay?” Dex asks.

Seriously, Dex is still holding his hand. How is Nursey supposed to think about literally anything else? “Uh, yeah?” Nursey says. His backpack is a bit damp, but he’s pretty sure that the books are fine. “Yeah. The books are… yeah.”

Dex only nods and glances down at their hands like he’s forgotten all about that. He doesn’t let go, though. He looks like he wants to say something, but then he bites his bottom lip and not a word comes out. His eyes find Nursey’s for the briefest of seconds before he stares down at their joined hands again.

Nursey rubs his thumb over the back of Dex’s hand. He’s glad that Dex is holding his hand, otherwise it’d be shaking; he feels like every part of him is shaking in _some_ way. His other hand is gripping the strap of his backpack so tightly that he can barely feel his fingers.

“So,” Nursey says, “how about you and your umbrella pick me up later so we can walk to the Haus together and I can… not get drenched?”

“Yeah, okay.”

Nursey holds on to Dex’s hand for a moment longer. It’s a good moment. He won’t pretend that he forgot about this one. He’s pretty tired of pretending that he forgot any of the others as well.

He lets go. “And maybe,” Nursey says, “we can get coffee at Annie’s next week?”

*

Annie’s is packed. Bitty is on a pumpkin spice latte date with Lardo and he waves at them when they make a beeline for the counter, the biggest smile on his face. Nursey bumps into Dex when he stops in his tracks to wave back at them.

“Careful,” Dex says and slips his hand into Nursey’s. It seems entirely effortless when he does it, even though his face goes red and he obviously doesn’t know how to look Nursey in the eye right now.

Still, Nursey spent the entire walk to Annie’s wondering how he could get back on hand-holding terms with Dex. Because they were a couple of days ago. And then they were away on a roadie and they were never alone, but now they’re back. Nursey’s been wanting to go back to where they were before, but he couldn’t figure out how. Now Dex has beat him to it. Nursey can’t say that it bothers him.

Dex smiles and tugs him towards the counter. They get in line and Nursey glances around to see if there are any empty tables, but it looks like they’re all out of luck. He didn’t think this would be an issue on a Monday afternoon, but Bitty obviously isn’t the only one who’d sell his soul for something pumpkin-spiced.

“We can sit outside, I don’t mind,” Dex says when Nursey points out that pretty much every seat at Annie’s is taken.

They could find two chairs and sit with Bitty and Lardo, of course. They probably wouldn’t mind. But this is sort of a date and Nursey doesn’t feel like sharing Dex with other people today.

So they get their coffee to go and find themselves a bench. It’s not too hard; no one really wants to sit outside today. The sun peeked through the clouds earlier, but apparently it decided that five seconds of sunshine were more than enough for late October.

Nursey sits down cross-legged, facing Dex, warming his hands on his coffee. He takes a sip and looks at Dex. This is a date. He’s allowed to look. _This is a date_. Maybe this was a bad idea. Nursey is terrible at this sort of thing.

They were holding hands in Annie’s five minutes ago. It was a _great_ idea. It is.

Nursey finds Dex’s hand and twines their fingers together. He can be chill about this. Holding hands with Dex, that’s fine. Dex buying him coffee? Also fine. Dex smiling at him? That’s on the verge of _too much for Nursey’s poor heart_.

He somehow manages to smile back at Dex. Really, he wants to smile at Dex all day, every day.

Nursey doesn’t even notice that he’s leaning in, barely even registers that Dex does as well. It happens suddenly, but when he thinks back, when he puts all those moments they pretended they forgot about in a row and takes a good look at them, it doesn’t seem so sudden after all.

A raindrop lands right next to Dex’s nose.

Before Dex can scowl and wipe it off, Nursey kisses it away. He won’t let the rain ruin this for him. He doesn’t have any books with him today, there’s absolutely no need to move.

“Probably just a few drops,” Dex says. He sounds like he just ran a mile.

“Yeah, probably,” Nursey says. He can feel one of them land on his nose when he leans in to kiss Dex. Another one lands on his hand, curled around Dex’s neck, when Dex kisses him back.

Just a few drops. “It’ll stop in a second,” Dex whispers. Another kiss, a few more raindrops, then the wind picks up and Nursey lets Dex pull him closer.

Dex sighs softy against his lips when he pulls away. He blinks up at the clouds. “Doesn’t look so good.”

“Huh,” Nursey only says. It’s just a little rain and he’s busy looking at Dex’s lips.

Dex is quick to notice his preoccupation, shrugs, and pulls him back in with his fingers curled around the lapels of Nursey’s coat.

There are raindrops on Dex’s lips and Nursey catches them one by one.

The rain doesn’t stop and Nursey doesn’t find it in himself to stop kissing Dex either. A gust of wind makes him shiver and then Dex stills, his hands cradling Nursey’s face.

“Let’s head back,” Dex says and wipes a drop of rain off the tip of Nursey’s nose.

“Just a second,” Nursey says and leans in again. There’s another raindrop right at the corner of Dex’s mouth and Nursey can’t go anywhere until he kisses that one away as well.

**Author's Note:**

> The title is from "A Line-Storm Song" by Robert Frost.
> 
> I'm @zimmermaenner on tumblr if you want to say hi.
> 
> Kudos and comments are very much appreciated :)


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